Why does sediment float off yeast cake so eazy in my wheat?

[Ozwald]

The yeast cake should be uniform in color. Any dark lines, as you noted, are from not-yeast. No longer getting a dark line means you're having good fermentations, properly getting rid of the trub & harvesting correctly.

Thats what I like to hear . Thank you all for holding my hand. I'll just decant a little more off the top and go from there. Thanks again....

Not a problem. I learn a hell of a lot more from trying stuff & fucking it up completely than getting it right the first time. Hence all the experimentation I did with yeast. First trying to do it right, then isolating samples and seeing how far I could push them, or doing shit I knew was completely wrong. At one point I had dozens of growlers all over the house & it took me 3-4 hours a day, 7 days a week, for several months. The most important part: take detailed notes on every minute detail. I could even tell you which sample came from where & could trace back exactly which growler it was in & when.

[spiderwrangler]

Sharpies work well for writing on glass... and come right off with high % alcohol, comes in handy some times.

[Ozwald]

Sharpies work well for writing on glass... and come right off with high % alcohol, comes in handy some times.

Short term maybe, but I rely on multiple spreadsheets. I found a waterproof fabric athletic tape that will keep sticking to glass even after you get it wet over and over and over again. If it get's real wet you can force it to slide around on the glass & even remove it, but it'll stick right back to dry glass again immediately. All my yeast vessels are individually numbered (501, 502, 503, etc for half gallons, 101, 102 for gallons & 301, 302 for 3 gallon vessels) Every strain gets a unique number. From, to, gen, split, rinse/acid-wash history, etc is all recorded in the spreadsheet so I can walk back hundreds of steps if I actually needed to. I also made up a few pieces of tape with a star on them for sanitized & a PBW for ... something, I forget that one . They used to be stuck to the edge of a cupboard with a corner ready for dispatch. Speaking of dispatch, I should have left for work 10 minutes ago.

[spiderwrangler]

If it get's real wet you can force it to slide around

That's when it get's good.

Yeah, I've not done the long term thing like you have, so Sharpies have worked in the past for me, but I'll keep that in mind.

[Ozwald]

If it get's real wet you can force it to slide around

That's when it get's good.

Yeah, I've not done the long term thing like you have, so Sharpies have worked in the past for me, but I'll keep that in mind.

Whatever works, y'know. I just like having too much info as opposed to missing some detail that I realize I need a year down the road.

The beauty of it was that if something went wrong, I could trace it back to where/what/when it happened & keep a close eye on other samples that crossed paths near that time. Like if I didn't get a growler clean enough. One time it helped me find a significant problem with a growler that was hiding behind the screen printing. A brett strain found it & really fucked with the next 2 samples that went through the same vessel.

As for the tape, just don't use the narrow stuff that has a smooth surface. It doesn't work very well. The tape that's been phenomenal has a fabric texture with out a pvc coating & is as wide as standard masking tape. Sharpie soaks right into it, so it doesn't come off or wear down. The real trick is to make sure it's wet when you pull it off if you want to reattach it.

[spiderwrangler]

The real trick is to make sure it's wet when you pull it off

Yes, proper lubrication is your best friend.

[Ozwald]

The real trick is to make sure it's wet when you pull it off

Yes, proper lubrication is your best friend.

You could do some damage to it & not be able to use it again.

Edit: Luckily it comes on a 100' roll, so you can always just rip off a new one...